Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News personality, pushed Steve Bannon to take over Donald Trump‘s campaign just last week.
Kelly stated, “We need Steve Bannon,” when talking about Trump’s conviction for using hush money on an edition of her show. “Find someone who is skilled in dirty fighting.”
A judge warned Bannon he would be spending time in jail this week.
Thanks in large part to his “War Room” show, which he has built to lead the Republican Party’s grassroots to the polls in November, the development could silence someone who has been an inspiration for much of the MAGA movement and one of Trump’s most aggressive zealots in the final months of the presidential election.
For months, NBC News followed Bannon’s show on Rumble, going to tapings and talking to dozens of Republicans, from congressmen in the corridors of Congress to the general public at rallies, about the power he possesses and how he has amassed a following he can use to sway party disagreements and, hopefully, national elections.
Bannon, when questioned if he could broadcast from a penitentiary, hinted that he might not follow the order to report to prison. Bannon had vowed to appeal the punishment all the way to the courts.
He texted, saying, “Who says I’m reporting!” “WarRoom will not be silenced, nor can it.”
The show will air for “four hours a day, five days a week, and two on Saturday,” according to Bannon.
“The WarRoom serves as MAGA’s military command center; we won’t give up until we have the ultimate victory,” he continued.
It’s not only his show, though. The loss of Bannon as a political operative during his 2022 conviction appeal for ignoring a subpoena from the House select committee looking into the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was swiftly lamented by MAGA Republicans. Although the conviction was set aside pending an appeal, a federal appeals court declined in May to overturn the punishment.
Bannon was given a four-month sentence that would see him released a few days before the election. He was told to report to prison by July 1.
It’s not the best situation. Charlie Kirk, a right-wing activist and Trump supporter who established a conservative student organization with close ties to the party’s evangelical wing, said, “He commands a huge audience.” However, he claimed that by increasing attendance and energizing the base, Bannon’s departure from the performance would “create a call to action that will eventually become much more widespread than even the program.
As co-chair of the Republican National Convention and a close ally of Trump, David Bossie described it as an attempt “to silence Steve,” telling NBC News that Bannon “does a lot of crucial and strategic work behind the scenes that will have an impact on the conservative movement and the campaign. “performs a great deal of important and tactical work behind the scenes that will influence the campaign and the conservative movement.”
Trump portrayed Bannon as the most recent victim of a Justice Department that was “so desperate to jail” Republicans in general as well as Bannon. Trump referred to the result as “a Total and Complete American Tragedy” in a post on Truth Social.
In a different instance involving Peter Navarro, who was found guilty of contempt of Congress for rejecting a committee subpoena on January 6 and is currently serving his term at a federal penitentiary in Florida, the Justice Department has adhered to standard legal procedures.
There’s little doubt that Trump would be affected by Bannon’s departure.
Bannon turned the staunchly pro-Trump Breitbart News, which he headed, into an even more powerful tool in 2016. He joined Trump as a top White House staffer following the election, but he quickly lost favor and was fired from the government in less than a year.
He had a means of getting back into Trump’s inner circle with his show. He supported the effort to rig the 2020 election, the opposition to Trump’s irrational accusations of widespread fraud, and the struggle against the former president’s adversaries in the Republican Party and Congress.
Although most Americans aren’t familiar with Bannon, he is a titan among the pundit and political elite, especially among ardent political enthusiasts.
Critics portray Bannon as a vicious propagandist who orchestrated the populist movement that propelled Trump to power, but Democrats counter that Bannon was responsible for some of the former president’s most inflammatory remarks and see his program as a means of manipulating events to support Trump.
Former Trump staffer turned critic Anthony Scaramucci tweeted on X, “Although I am aware that we shouldn’t get our happiness from other people, Steve Bannon’s imprisonment has made me happy.”
Right-wing detractors of Bannon claim that his impact is exaggerated. Despite this, Bannon, his allies, and even his detractors continue to lavish him with praise for his accomplishments.
Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, was forced to resign because of a lack of funding within the party, which Bannon attributes to his audience. “This audience turned off the tap, which is why the RNC went into crisis,” he declared.
Tim Miller, a prominent critic of Trump and former Republican strategist, cites Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida’s removal of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California as evidence that Bannon can influence the Republican Party.
Fox had a united front against Gaetz. hour by hour. Everyone, said Miller. “And they removed the House Speaker.”
This was “due to the fact that they were able to leverage the MAGA grassroots’s power to persuade enough individuals, enough members to support it,” he claimed. “Well, that’s kind of crazy.”